Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup (Grade 1)

A Gold Cup dubbed as the great duel of the 2026 Punchestown Festival was turned into an absolute procession by a magnificent and merciless Gaelic Warrior, with Paul Townend hailing him as an “iron horse” after spectacularly dispatching Fact To File by 26 lengths.

The latest in a series of highly-touted bouts between the pair of top staying chasers proved a case of one-way traffic. Any fears of a hangover after a monstrous performance in the Cheltenham Gold Cup were completely unfounded for Susannah Ricci’s star.

Fact To File, a high-profile withdrawal from the Ryanair Chase and making his first start since winning the Irish Gold Cup, tried to serve it up to the 5/6 favourite under positive tactics. However, he slightly guessed at the fifth last and Townend poured on the pressure at four out with a marvellous leap, drawing closer in this five-runner affair.

The pair locked horns on the run to three out, both jumping boldly as the race briefly threatened to break into a no-holds-barred battle, but the writing was on the wall turning in.

Fact To File cracked and Gaelic Warrior was only getting going. He took no backwards step up the straight to leave his main rival reeling, scoring with such ease that Townend - winning his third edition of this race in five years - had the time to salute the crowd crossing the line.

“He's an iron horse, because it's so hard to dance all the dances he has, put up the performances he has - and produce it again today,” said Townend.

“To sit on him, with the shoulders in front of him, he’s a tank of a horse... A very talented tank at that. The main thing is not to get in a row with him. He was very manageable once I got to the start; I was happy to see Mark [Walsh] going forward.

“He went to the start fairly full of himself now and, I was a little bit worried when I got down there. I probably but a bit more emphasis on settling him today. Once we got over a couple of fences, he settled lovely.

“I bided my time on him. He’s had a hard season and I was waiting on him to tell me when he wanted to go. I would have liked to wait a little longer but I wasn’t disappointing him too much either. I got there for nothing, I thought, and wasn’t going setting sail.”

The 4/1 available in places for next year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup is now gone. Layers are now generally 2/1 about him for a Cheltenham repeat, and no bigger than 3/1.

“It was a huge performance,” said Mullins. “My heart was in my mouth when Paul joined him between the fourth last and the third last. I was thinking ‘would they knock one another’ or what would they do. They were going some lick and both jockeys just let fly.

“Over that trip Gaelic Warrior seemed to have the measure of Fact To File. Over a shorter trip it might be different. It was a hell of a horse race. It takes two horses to do it. It was great that J.P. [McManus] allowed Fact To File to take him on. It made for a memorable day.

“Fact To File got a nice time in front and Paul was able to settled his fella in. Both jockeys got to ride their horse the way they wanted to. There were no excuses.

“Gaelic Warrior started off here in November in the John Durkan, then on to Kempton, Dublin Racing Festival, Cheltenham and here. It’s always my philosophy that if you have the horses and the sponsors put up nice money you should go for it. I try and run them as much as I can when we have nice opportunities.”